Despite coming from a small town in Bihar, Manoj Bajpai is a thorough Delhiite. He worked his way up doing small roles in TV, before moving on to movies such as Bandit Queen, Shool and Satya, in which his portrayal of Bhiku Mhatre made him a household name.

Convincing performances and good scripts matter more to him than box-office success.

He admits he’s in awe of Amitabh Bachchan: He has admired AB for as long as he can remember.

He turned down involvement in Deepa Mehta's Water because he thought that the role was not to par.

• International film directed by New York-based American-Indian filmmaker Nanda Anand, Searching for Sara. Manoj Bajpai plays a Rajsthani nobleman opposite Hollywood actresses Lynn Collins (The Merchant of Venice) and Kelli Garner (The Aviator).
• Ramanand Sagar’s grandson Amrit Sagar's debut direction, 1971, is an after war story. This group of six soldiers held during the 1971 war with Pakistan for the liberation of Bangladesh want to return to their home country. Film has no heroine.
• An American production directed by Nanda Anand, Rajapur,is the story of a relationship between an Indian prince and an American princess. Shot in Jaisalmer, 9th century desert town of India. The first half of the movie was shot in freezing temperatures in the desert town and the second half in sweltering heat.
• Ashvin Kumar's The Forest,
a bilingual thriller starring Manoj Bajpai and Sandhya Mridu. The first Hollywood producer backed made-in-India movie. To be shot in the jungles of Terai in India starting Nov 2005. Focussing ecological crisis in the present times. Ashvin Kumar got his fame through his 15 minute long documentary, Little Terrorist, nominated for Oscar Awards in 2005.
• An international production in English All Alone
With Diana Hayden and three French actors, directed by Ritesh Sinha. The film is being shot in Mauritius. .
• Pankaj Parasher's Inteqam
• Makarand Deshpande's Hanan opposite Sonali Kulkarni. He plays the role of a Pagla. The film was shot in 34 days.

Manoj Bajpai is planning to turn a producer. He already has a subject in mind for his first film as a producer. It is based on his own story, which he says is going to shake up a lot of people. It is about Muslims living in contemporary India. He is confident of handling the delicate subject sensitively without sensationalizing anything.

On August 21st, 2004, Bajpai won a Special Jury Award during the 2004 National Film Awards, for his role in Pinjar

• 2005 Deepak Tijori's Fareb opposite Shilpa and Shamita Shetty
• 25 Feb 2005 Dharmesh Dharshan's Bewafaa with Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Shamita Shetty, Kabir Bedi and Nafisa Ali. Music by Nadeem-Shravan and produced by Boney Kapoor.
• 12 Nov 2004 Veer Zaara with Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Amitabh Bachchan
• 2003 LOC
• 2003 Pinjre
• 2002 Road
• 2002 Jaago
• 2001Aks with Amitabh Bachchan